Chapter 2 Kaboom crew debut
by Mikelalex
Summary: Not completely satisfied but it's overdue, y'know?


**Hey everyone!**

Alright, so it seems like a few of you are a little confused. Let me explain the backstory so it's totally crystal clear for everyone. Oh, and in case you didn't quite catch on... the threat levels are respective for jobs (1st is C, 2nd is B, so on, so forth).

-Ahem-

The year is 2096. The maple world is in a state of near anarchy, but a small group, known as "The agency" (GMs, but much less powerful) keeps this fragile balance. The location of their headquarters is unknown, and their members do not distinguish themselves amongst others. Still, they give the people of the Maple world hope. The agency also assigns threat levels to certain members of society- C, B, A, S, in ascending order. These threat levels are identifiable through the agency scanners, which are given out to the general public. These scanners, issued out in 2070, also carry other basic information, such as who rules which territory (Targa, Scarlion, Agency, or other), and the current presiding officers over that area.

There are two warring factions- the Scarlion faction and the Targa faction.

The Targa faction is symbolized by their colors, Purple and White, and sport bear-like helmets. Their leader is Targa boss, an archmage shrouded in mystery. He rarely leaves his room, but he is responsible for summoning the ground troops of the Targans (The galloperas). The targan faction is largely dependant on magical energy, but they do use some mechanics, such as armored suits and engineered weapons. For the most part though, they utilize the power of scrolls to power up their soldiers. The targan faction is attempting to topple the agency, and seize the strange power they hold over the rest of the maple world, to make it a better, and more manageable place. However, in order to do this, Targa boss is ready to eliminate all those who are not genetically perfect- even if that means his own men.

The Scarlion faction is symbolized by their colors, Red and Orange, and sport cat-like helmets. Their leader is King Scarlion, or Scarlion boss, a Dark Knight who has genetically and mechanically altered his body beyond normal means. He is a master mechanic, and provided the blueprints for the ground troops of the Scarlions (The vikerolas). The Scarlion faction is largely dependant on Science, and engineering. Their weapons are usually created using the "maker" skills, with great minds such as Eurek the Alchemist helping create these extremely powerful tools of destruction. The Scarlion faction relies on no magical energy whatsoever, and thus has no mages in its guild. King Scarlion does not mind the anarchy so much, but simply wishes to control it. His belief is that combat shows superiority, and thus the strongest will rule over the weak.

There are also several other, much smaller groups of people, attempting to fight off these powerful guilds. This group is collectively known as "_The resistance"_. Note that not all of these smaller groups work with one another, as many have different beliefs. The Mercenaries are also a very large group, adventures for hire. They follow no faction in particular, but will usually work for either as long as the pay is good. The higher a mercenaries threat level, the higher they must be paid.

_Snow fields, where the snowman resides. 12-10-2096_

Helppp please somebody HELP ME!"

As I got closer and closer, the voice seemed to sound younger than when I had first heard it. The man who approached me had to be at least 50 years old, yet the screams seemed to be coming from something more of an adolescent. Still, mesos were on the line here, so it didn't matter if the woman he had to save was twelve or thirty. A job was a job, and no matter what, it always had to be completely done.

"Speed up! Form-1. Speed increased to 140%, attack speed increased by 2, weight decreased by 20%"

An enhanced haste. I was the last project to receive this version, which only went up to 4 forms. I hadn't gone past 3 however, as Foxwit advised me against it almost everyday. I'm not sure why, but I suppose that he was one to trust about these things. He did construct me after all.

"Hello?" I called out. "Your husband sent me after you! Please, he just wants me to talk to you!"

An obvious lie, of course. Did she realize this though?

"THAT'S BULLSH-! I KNOW HE WANTS ME DEAD!" yelled the voice. It was a teenager, I was sure of it. How young, that still remained unknown.

"Hmph," I somewhat snorted. "Well, either you take your chances with me, or the snowman." I was getting closer, and as I approached a cave, I could tell that something was definitely not right. Where was the snowman? This was his dwelling place. "So, what'll it be? Either come out of that cave and walk out of here with me, or let the snowman tear you to shreds." I was right outside of the icy cave now. The snowman was definitely not home. While it was somewhat of a relief, I knew that it could only mean one thing.

This was a trap.

"I... fine. Just come in here and untie me, would you?" whimpered the girl.

I walked inside to find a half naked, tied up, shivering and crying 14 year old girl. She looked sad, but I could tell that her emotion is not genuine. I was still waiting for the snowman to show up, but he never did. Something was definitely going on here... Something bad. Very bad.

"So," She started. "My stupid husband, did he send you here to rescue me, or to have me executed? How much is he paying you? Did he tell you why I ran away?" She blasted me with questions, all seemingly genuine. Hell, I've seen better acting on children's shows.

"That doesn't matter," I snapped. "Where the hell is the snowman? This is his cave, and I know for a fact that he never leaves. What've you done with him?"

"Oh the snowman?" She giggled like the 14-year old brat she was, the ropes binding her legs and arms falling to the ground. "I killed him. Just like what I'm about to do y-"

I didn't let her finish, and I took a swing at her. She dodged it, and lunging foward, kicks me nearly 30 feet out of the freaking cave. I caught myself before I would hit the side of the mountain, and immediately drew my weapon.

"So it begins," I hissed. "Speed up! Form-2. Speed increased to 160%, attack speed increased by 4, weight decreased by 30%. Are you ready to die a slow, painful death?"

"Hah! You're funny," she pouted. "And cute. It's almost a shame I have to kill you." she said, sighing. Her attire shifted from almost naked to a fully armored android suit colored with purple and white. Colors of the targa. I cursed inwardly. I should've seen this coming! I formed a battle stance as she pulled a large bear helmet over her head. "Consider yourself lucky," she said through the helmet. "Not many people get to see me like this. All fully suited up and whatnot. I usually have to sleep with men and just assassinate them. So boring. It's nice to get to fight for a change."

"Ah, so you're the infamous Chiyako?" I called out as I held out my weapon. "A class 'A' threat to the Agency. This should be interesting. Haaaaa!" I dived at her with an simple assaulter blow. She dodged it slightly by stepping to the side, but I could tell I've hit her. I quickly realized that she's not the most agile, but what she lacks in mobility she makes up for in power. I've seen her raze parts of Singapore. She's capable of producing massive damage. But still, she was human, and that meant she was defeatable.

"Hm. You're even quicker than I heard you were!" She called out as I skidded along the ground to a halt. "But that won't be enough. SHOCKWAVE!" a large yellow burst of energy shot out at me. Rather easy to dodge, only that she sends out two more, and just like the first, yelling 'SHOCKWAVE!' both times. Too predictable, I thought to myself. What use is calling out the skill name? She might as well stand still and start begging for mercy if she's going to keep up like that. Too easy.

"Is that all you've got?" I taunted, holding my weapon back and twitching my finger at her. "I have a feeling that if it weren't for that suit, you wouldn't be half the fighter you are now!" I shouted mockingly as I dived at her with another assaulter before stopping halfway with a savage blow. Six heavy hits, each more deadly than the next. She was knocked down to the ground in mere seconds, her armor slightly broken.

"Heh. You're good..." She says slowly, blood dripping out of her helmet, presumably from the mouth. "But I'm BETTER! TRANSFORMATION!"

Damn, she's a marauder, I mutter to myself, reciting what I had been programmed with. Her body would take the form of pure energy, and her hair transforms from two short pigtails to one long, glowing blue braid.

"Scared yet? You should be" she said. I couldn't tell since she was wearing her helmet, but I could just picture her smirking from ear to ear. I snarled. I hate it when brats do that.

"Hmph. You're not even worth form three speed." I taunt.

"Oh is that right?" her voice turned venomous with every syllable. "Well then in that case, you should have no problem taking on another opponent, since I'm so weak and all..." she began to smile devilishly. Her voice was practically dripping with pleasure and evil. She retreated back into the cave, returning quickly with a blue sack.

"Son of a gun..." I cursed as I watched her open the bag, and the snowman spawned. Except now, he has a large bear tattoo on the middle of his chest. "I should've known it wouldn't be that easy..." I murmurerd quietly to myself.

"Hahaha!" Her voice was now tinged with a bit of insanity. "Yes. You should've," she laughed, her demonic voice echoeing everywhere. Snowman was under her control now. Thus, the odds were slightly in her favor. Nothing I couldn't handle though...

"Heh. You're mistaking me for a regular Shadower." I said calmly, holding my dagger close. "Don't you realize that I'm a hybrid?"

"Hybrid, shmybrid. You'll die like every other class would," she snapped, and turned to Snowman. "Snowman! You know what to do." And just like a dog, he obeyed.

Alright, I thought to myself. First priority- the big guy. In the meantime, I should try and avoid her shockwaves. Form three won't be neces-

"YEEEE HAW! BEEN WAITIN FOR THIS FELLA ALL EVENIN! BOUT TIME YOU SHOWED UP BIG GUY, I WAS BEGINNIN TUH WORRY! READY TUH GIMME SOME O' DAT NICE TREASURE I KNOW YOU GOT?" The loud voices broke my train of thoughts, but then I grinned as I realized who they were.

"Bigfoot" hunters. Three of them. No doubt wanting to steal some valuable from his cave, that or they're looking for his special essence. Regardless, they were a useful diversion. What's more was they had scarlion colors on. They would come in handy...

"Aw shoo cuz, this one be a biggun! I don'ts know if we kun handle it..." this was coming from the biggest one. He had a large casa crossbow strapped to his back, and was fully draped in ades armor, with an orange and red band across his arm. I could tell just by looking at him that he wasn't the smartest in the group. He was most certainly the strongest, however.

"Oh big boy, would you RELAX? We done killed bigger, this one's a baby, you know better than that!" the great captain kaboom. Or at least, that's what was painted across his chest. He didn't have a shirt on, but I'm sure his muscles provided some sort of heavy plate defense. He had a peacemaker, no doubt a treasure he snagged from the scarlion base. They say he used to be a famous treasure hunter, then he joined scarlion, then quit due to the lack of treasure. He now hunts the larger fiends which plague the maple world. He currently has his sights set on a Bigfoot, but even with his new class 'S' ranking, it didn't look like he really stood a chance. He had a pirate hat on, stained red with blood. It glowed with expert scrolling jobs, probably the product of illegal black magic. Still, he was an impressive sight to see. "Besides... have I EVER led you boys astray?"

"Well cap, there was that one time, against Papa Pixie..." The third one seemed to be much more serious than the other two. He didn't have the drawl, like the others, and seemed to be much more casual. A sauna robe, a brown bamboo hat, and a standard Dark gigantic, scrolled no doubt. The standard assassin. There was, however, something different about him. Something...evil... "We almost died, remember? Remember that?"

"Yeah I remember, I remember ALMOST dyin, and I also remember the loot that big bad fairy boy dropped!" he was spinning his peacemaker. "Boy made me so rich, I almost thought about quittin th' business!" he grinned. He'd obviously been at this for a while. "Besides, if it weren't for me, you wouldn'ta been able to afford all that gear! So shut your mouth boy, before I shut it for you" He was teeming with arrogance, something that I noticed to be common in the outlaw class.

"Hmph. Whatever." Truly, ardent followers. "WE BEHIND YOU ALL DA WAY CAP!" said the larger one, and with that, they rushed at the Snowman, weapons in hand. I would have loved to join them, but I was still being shot at with a multitude of shockwaves, so I had no time to even introduce myself, much less help them conquer a mutated snowman. I'm not even sure they noticed the glowing girl up in the sky, firing shockwaves at me. Still, it hardly mattered, because they had re-balanced the odds.

"Well. Seems your little pet is a little occupied." I grinned devilishly.

"Oh. Well, he was only getting in my way anyways." I sensed the fear in her voice. "Besides, I don't need anyone to handle a little baby bandit like yourself! SHOCKWAVE" I dodged it just as easily as the others. She was running low on energy. Time to finish this, I thought.

"You look tired! Sure you don't want a break?" I laughed.

"I...huff... I don't need... your... COURTESY! SHOCKWAVE!" this one I dodged, but instead of moving further away, I rushed towards her with another assaulter. A perfect slash, straight across the chest. She was bleeding now, as I had cut through her once flawless armor. Tears began to swell up in her eyes.

"Aww. Did I hurt the little baby girl?" I mocked. "Time to finish this" I rushed at her at hit her with another deadly savage blow, and she was knocked to the ground.

At about the same time, I heard the snowman cry out to the sky, as it collapsed to the ground, several bullets, arrows, and crystal shurikens in its back.

"WOO! LETS CUT THIS BAD MUTHA OPEN BOYS! Cuz, you go check the cave. Me n lil' rookie here will handle this" and without question, the two sidekicks did as they were told. I smiled vehemently.

"Well well Chiyako. Doesn't look like the odds are in your favor." I grinned. She got up slowly, wiping the tears from her face. As she got up, she was smiling.

"You really think... I was trying to kill you?" She was grinning with that Cheshire cat grin again. "I... was only stalling... el nath gone..." she fell to the floor, unconscious. El nath gone? They wouldn't dare launch an assault there, it was one of the few peaceful places left. Had it really come to this, all out war? Even if it had, why did they get rid of me? "Regardless... I've done my part. You're too late to stop it..." She pulled out a teleport rock. I rushed over to stop her, but she disappeared before I could even take a step towards her.

"Damn."

"Well buddy, looks like YOU gotta get back to el nath! Lucky for you, I got a quick return scroll! It'll cost you though..." The agency got rid of the sale of mass return scrolls years ago, back when wars were beginning to get out of hand. They were quite rare nowadays, and their convenience came at a high price.

"Fine. How much?" I ask. Please, nothing over...

"Hmm... how's 450 thousand mesos sound? Cuttin' you a crazy deal, since I'm sure this is purdy darn important." Of course. I pay him, and I'm on my way.

_Outskirts of Orbis tower, Snow fields I. 12-10-2096_

_Targa faction._

Archaeus led his troops down the tower with a sort of bittersweet pride. He had been assigned this raid to prove his worth- if he completed it successfully, he would be assigned head commander of the Targa clan. Right under the boss himself. Still, were he to fail... well, it would not be good for him. Archaeus had also finished his Hero training, so he had now fully solidified himself as a class S threat towards the Agency. Not that he really wasn't before. From the day he sold his soul to Targa, he had grown much stronger than he had ever hoped to become. This pleased Archaeus. However, he knew the cost he paid wa hardly w


End file.
